14 
pliny's NATUUAL nrSTORT. [Book XXIV. 
blossoms of the pine. Another variety of it, which is some- 
what shorter, has all the appearance of being bent®^ down- 
wards ; and there is a third, which, though it has a similar 
smell, and consequently the same name, is altogether smaller, 
with a stem the thickness of one's finger, and a diminutive, 
rough, pale leaf : it is found growing in rocky localities. All 
these varieties are in reality herbaceous productions ; but in 
consequence of the resemblance of the name,^^ I have thought 
it as well not to defer the consideration of them. 
These plants are good for stings inflicted by scorpions, and 
are useful as an application, mixed with dates or quinces, for 
maladies of the liver : a decoction of them with barley-meal 
is used for the kidneys and the bladder. A decoction of them 
in- water is used also for jaundice and for strangury. The 
kind last mentioned, in combination with honey, is good for 
wounds inflicted by serpents, and a pessary is made of it, with 
honey, as a detergent for the uterus. Taken in drink it brings 
away coagulated blood, and rubbed upon the body it acts as a 
sudorific : it is particularly useful also for the kidneys. Pills 
of a purgative nature are made of it for dropsy, with figs.^^ 
Taken in wine, in doses of one victoriatus,®' it dispels lumbago, 
and cures coughs that are not of an inveterate description. 
A decoction of it in vinegar, taken in drink, will instantaneously 
bring away the dead foetus, it is said. 
CHAP. 21. THE PITYUSA I SIX EEMEDIES. 
Por a similar reason, too, we shall accord the same dis- 
tinction to the pityusa, a plant which some persons reckon 
among the varieties of the tithymalus.^^ It is a shrub, re- 
®2 The Teucrium chamsepitys of LinnaBus, the Chamsepitys lutea vulgaris 
of C. Bauhin, the ground-pine. 
^3 The leaves are imbricated, and the branches bend downwards, like 
those of the pine, whence the name. 
The Teucrium pseudo-chamsepitys of Linnaeus, the bastard ground- 
pine. 
S5 To the pine or pitch-tree, mentioned in c. 19. 
^6 They are rich in essential oil, and are of a tonic nature. All that is here 
stated as to their medicinal uses, and which cannot be based upon that 
property, is hypothetical, Fee says, and does not deserve to be refuted. 
^'^ See Introduction to Vol. III. 
The resemblance of its name to the "pitvs,'' or pitch- tree. 
89 See B. xxvi. c. 39. 
^ An Euphorbia with a ligneous stem, the Euphorbia pityusa of Linnaeus. 
